Browsing by Author "UNICEF"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Absenteeism: Key Driver of Poor Performance in Primary Education
    (UNICEF, 2016) UNICEF
    With the introduction of Universal Primary Education (UPE) in 1997, Government committed to provide free education to all children of primary school going age. Through the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Uganda further committed to ensure delivery of a full course of primary education to all children by 2015. According to the MDG 2015 report, notable gains attributed to UPE include increased enrollment, a general upsurge in primary school completion, and the elimination of gender disparities between girls’ and boys’ completion rates. Achievements notwithstanding, the efficiency of Uganda’s primary education is low - survival rate to P7 stands at 32.1%, repetition at 10.2% (EMIS, 2014), and teacher absenteeism is estimated at 20-30% (NPA, 2015).
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    Community engagement and its implications for latrine Coverage and better hygiene and sanitation practices
    (UNICEF, 2017) UNICEF
    The International Decade for Action - Water for life 2005-2015 report states that sanitation remains a powerful indicator of the state of human development in any community. Access to sanitation bestows benefits at many levels. Cross-country studies show that the method of disposing of excreta is one of the strongest determinants of child survival: the transition from unimproved to improved sanitation reduces overall child mortality by about a third. Improved sanitation also brings advantages for public health, livelihoods and dignity-advantages that extend beyond households to entire communities.
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    Improving Water Access through Sub-County Level Equity Prioritization
    (UNICEF, 2017) UNICEF
    Equitable promotion and provision of water supply services across social and geographic clusters remain a significant challenge in Uganda. To this end, in a bold effort to capture the degree of equitable access to improved water sources the Water and Environment sector developed and introduced an equity index designed to measure “the mean sub-county deviation from the district average in persons per water point”. Low numeric values of the equity index indicate a more even distribution of improved water sources between sub-counties within a given district; and vice-versa.
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    Leadership and Access to Safe Water: Key Determinants of Improved Hand washing
    (UNICEF, 2016) UNICEF
    Responsible for the death of over 750,000 children every year, diarrheal diseases stand as the second leading cause of death amongst children under 5 (WHO, 2013). A number of epidemiological studies suggest that the universal practice of hand washing with soap could reduce the risk of severe diarrhea by 48% and the risk of any diarrhea by 47% (Greenland et.al, 2012). In Uganda, Government promotes hand washing with soap through the National hand washing Initiative (NHWI), and by providing funding to local governments under the District Sanitation Conditional Grant (DSCG). At 33.2%, however, the percentage of people with access to hand washing facilities remains significantly below the national target of 50% (SPR, 2015). Most alarmingly, the national average reported above hides marked inequities in the availability of hand washing facilities at local level (Figure 1). Such inequities are further perpetrated by the fact that in spite of the existence of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministries of Health, Water, and Education, districts and sub-counties lack clear guidance on their respective roles in the promotion of universal hand washing.
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    Social Dynamics and lack of Family Support: Key Barriers Hampering the Elimination of HIV/AIDs Mother to Child Transmission
    (UNICEF, 2016) UNICEF
    In full compliance with the National Priority Action Plan (NPAP, 2013), between 2011 and 2013 Uganda registered a 65% reduction in new HIV infections among children. Moreover, between 2000 and 2012 the number of AIDS-related deaths among children aged 0-4 years decreased by more than half. Progress notwithstanding, with a national average of 18% of new HIV infections due to Mother To Child Transmission (MTCT), the elimination of Mother to Child Transmission (eMTCT) continues to face significant challenges.